


Six-Sided Die

by EchoDoctor



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Roleswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-18
Updated: 2017-02-18
Packaged: 2018-09-25 07:20:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9808988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EchoDoctor/pseuds/EchoDoctor
Summary: Six human souls, six monsters still standing, and six ways it could have looked very different from the other side.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So, I thought I'd try a different kind of roleswap AU than the ones I'd seen so far.

**Blue**

“AND SO YOU SEE, YOUR MAJESTY, THAT IS WHY WE SHOULD BE FRIENDS!” Having finished his triumphant declaration, the boy spread his arms wide and grinned even wider. Asgore held tighter to his trident, unable to trust his voice enough to speak. When he had made his vow, he had imagined bringing his rage down the villagers that had killed his son, the grown men and women who had torn his child apart. But this? This was a boy, still clearly a child in his own right, who offered him no violence at all.

And Chara had been so young, too… God, was the mountain only a lure to lost children? Would they all be children, every last lost soul he’d have to claim to keep his word?

Please, no. Bad enough that this boy was nothing like the cold and hateful human he’d been picturing. Had he ever even fought before?

It took him until the child’s response to realize he asked the last question out loud.

“WHEN YOU ARE AS GREAT AS ME, FIGHTS DON’T LAST TOO LONG,” he beamed. “YOU SEE, DEEP DOWN PEOPLE WANT TO BE FRIENDS, EVEN IF THEY SEEM SCARY AT FIRST. WHY, EVEN MY DEAR BROTHER CAN SEEM RATHER OFFPUTTING AT TIMES, AND I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT HE HAS A HEART OF GOLD! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS HELP THEM BE TRUE TO THEMSELVES, AND YOU MAKE NEW FRIENDS WHEREVER YOU GO. EVEN JUST HERE,” he gestured grandly around them. “I MADE FRIENDS WITH A LADY WHO GAVE ME THESE WONDERFUL NEW SHOES. SHE SAID THEY’RE PERFECT FOR DANCING, SO I CAN’T DISAPPOINT HER BY MISSING THAT DATE NOW!”

“You have promises to keep,” he acknowledged, remembering an empty coffin and an undisturbed room, far too quiet in the lonely hours of the night. “But so do I.”

In the softly-glowing side trails of Waterfall, a young monster practiced her dance steps over and over, polishing them until each movement was completely free of imperfections. The dance might have been better with a partner, but…

No. She’d heard the announcements, seen the king on the news as he spoke of the first human soul collected, the first step to their freedom taken, the first of many. It hurt to admit as she turned the thought over in her mind, staring into the vivid blue depths of the water below, but she had always refused to lie to herself and she wouldn’t start now.

He wasn’t coming back.

Step by painful step, she danced for the truth of him anyway.

**Green**

“Am I gonna have to beat your face in or what?”

Possibly he should have felt threatened, but the scrawny young girl had delivered the line with such genuine concern he almost wanted to laugh. She seemed unafraid, for all that he towered over her, and hoisted her weapon onto her shoulder with a look of firm resolve. It had, he suspected, once been some kind of cooking pan, but it had since been beaten into a crude metal club. Considering the nicks and bruises all along her bare arms, he suspected it had happened one blow at a time.

“That’s how it always goes on TV: you got the good guy who knows what’s right, and the bad guy who’s still too confused, and then they talk with their fists until the hero wins with the power of their love and friendship,” she explained cheerfully. “So, are you gonna stop all this now, or do I have to win first? Because I made about ten billion monster friends on the way here, and I’m pretty sure that’s enough power to kick the stupid out of you until you’re done with this whole war thing.”

Bluntly phrased as it was, he saw that she had likely been telling the truth about befriending a few of his subjects- battered as her pan was, not a single speck of dust clung to the dented metal, and he knew how hard a monster’s remains were to remove. She had gone through the caverns and matched them fight for fight, without ever giving into the temptation to strike a lethal blow. And now she planned the same for him, to offer a beaten enemy the hand of friendship.

But this was not, he thought regretfully, the story she thought it was, and whether it was open in welcome or clenched in a fist, he struck her hand aside every time she raised it.

Halfway through the fight, he got a closer look at the monster food she was bolting down to heal herself, and blinked in surprise. The small iced buns were unmistakable, a specialty of the young monster he’d promoted to Guard-Captain a month ago, who was well-known for baking as a hobby.

She met his gaze defiantly, “My friend made this for me, and I know he’s cheering me on. I won’t let him down! I won’t let any of them down!”

The next day, when the Captain came silently to look at the new addition to the king’s glass cases, it glowed the green of a thriving forest from within. Asgore did not speak to him of gifts, or baking for his friends, and the king was never cruel enough to suggest he use that particular recipe again, no matter how much they’d both liked the taste.

**Orange**

“It’s either you or me, and it’s _not_ going to be me," he declared boldly.

Then again, it wasn’t much more audacious than anything else the young man had done since entering Asgore’s castle. He hadn’t bothered opening the doors, for a start, preferring to kick them open with one firmly-thrust bootheel. The effect had almost been spoiled by the way he stumbled slightly as he brought one long leg back down to step forward, but he recovered admirably and walked forward in long, dramatic strides, managing to repress a wince at the pain no doubt radiating from his ankle.

He’d posed like an actor and pouted like one too, strutting back and forth in front of the increasingly stunned boss monster as he detailed the harshness of his trip, the unfairness of being trapped down here, and the unforgivable crime it would be to deprive the world above of his talent and beauty, and finished by whirling abruptly to face the king as he thrust out a hand and demanded he hand over the soul that was the key to his release.

The sheer cheek of it all almost made Asgore want to give it to him, just to see what would happen.

But it would be cowardice to leave his people behind to deal with whatever was to come, and in the end, he rose to face the intruder, bringing his trident down in a crash that scattered shards of cracked floor tile about the foot of the throne. The young man couldn’t match him in strength and power, but he moved with the grace of a dancer, making it difficult to land a solid hit, and they worked their way around the whole of the room, stabbing and darting at one another as they went.

As they backed toward the spot the first strike had landed, the fight changed in the space of an instant. The king’s foot came down on a flat piece of scattered tile that slid sideways under his weight, throwing him to the ground. His opponent seized immediately on the opportunity to kick the trident out of his hands, and reared back to deliver a finishing blow.

“Your Majesty!”

Both combatants were briefly united in a moment of pure surprise, before the young man was tackled to the ground by a charging blur. Asgore recognized the armored figure as a new recruit of the Royal Guard, one who’d been supposed to come to him today for training. Upon seeing a human standing over her king, she hadn’t even hesitated to rush in full tilt, throwing her body into his and pinning him to the ground.

He still struggled valiantly, even caught off guard, but he’d been panting with exhaustion even as he’d been standing over Asgore, and he didn’t have the energy to push away someone wearing a suit of steel plate. There was just enough time for the battered young boy to choke out a cry.

“No, wait! Bl- “

And then she brought her metal-clad fist down with all the force she could muster.

Later, watching a heart the color of a sunset bob gently in a glass case, the guardswoman would turn to her ruler, and ask him if she had done the right thing. It would take him longer than he would have liked to work up the courage to reply.

**Cyan**

“Sorry, I came here with… I… I’m waiting for someone else…” The odd little stranger hadn’t got out more than one shy, trailing sentence before they bolted, she explained to the king later. They’d been sitting quietly under a tree in the woods, by the side of the winding back-road she walked every day on her way home. It had been a surprise to see them, since normally she was the only one who used that path, but she’d been content to leave them be and let them come down the few yards to her door on their own if they actually felt up for a talk.

After all, it would be terribly rude for someone who enjoyed the peace and quiet of Snowdin’s forests to disturb another nature-lover while they were relaxing. She’d thought perhaps they were bird-watching, the way they’d hummed very quietly to themselves when they heard bits of other songs filtering down through the branches. For a moment, she seemed happier than Asgore had seen her look since he’d opened the Throne Room’s door to find her waiting in the Hall, as she explained how it could be a very rewarding hobby if you weren’t too opposed to staying still for a while, and their music was so beautiful if you listened... Midway through, he could see her remember why she’d come here and go quiet-voiced and solemn again, resuming her story.

It wasn’t until she left for work the next morning and saw them still sitting there that she began to worry.

She’d wondered about it all day, thinking over whether to approach them. Certainly, there were plenty of monsters who took no notice of the cold, some were even made of ice themselves. But if the stranger had been untouched by the weather, then why had they been dressed so warmly? They had wrapped themselves in so many layers of mismatched clothing that every inch of them was covered. Under that ragtag bundle of winter gear, she couldn’t tell what kind of monster they even were.

When she got back from her shift and they still hadn’t left, her mind was made up.

They’d struggled hastily to their feet as she approached, beginning to back nervously away. When she asked them if they needed any help, she’d just barely managed to get close enough to see a quick flash of their stricken expression in the tiny gap between hat and scarves, before they gave her a hasty reply and a hastier retreat. They’d been too fast for her to catch up with, moving smoothly through the forest’s obstacles and vanishing into the dark, but she knew the depths of the woods like she knew her own mind, and she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t look.

It had taken her nearly until morning to find the body.

Without her methodical searching, it might have gone unnoticed for years. Even then, she might have missed the little covered hollow it was tucked away in if the glow hadn’t caught her eye. Voice flat and gaze focused on the glass case behind her king, she described seeing a pale, steady light under the leaves, the color of a jay’s feather, and clearing them away to find the small bright shape rising to rest in her hands. The cold, she explained, had finally gotten them. After their flight through the woods, they’d been tired enough to lie down under another large fir tree, nestle among the roots, and sleep. They hadn’t woken up again.

He thanked her for bringing the soul to him and, mercifully, she left without further discussion of the matter.

Almost a year afterward, one of his walks about the kingdom brought him through Snowdin. His companion, a young dog monster who’d been happy to show the king around, suggested that he might enjoy seeing the forest, with his interest in gardening. He’d appreciated the chance to see one of the more obscure corners of his domain, until he saw something fluttering in the corner of his vision: a long, pale blue ribbon, wound all in and around the branches of a large fir tree.

Not daring to look down into the tangling roots, he fled the unspoken but unmistakable memorial as fast as he could without breaking into a run and frightening the monster beside him. Even so, it took some time to reassure his companion that nothing was wrong, and convince them to leave the ribbon alone.

**Purple**

“You know, I d-didn’t even want t-t-to go up there in the f-first place?” she smiled weakly. It was hard to say whether her stuttering came from fear or simply a speech impediment. A naturally nervous disposition was certainly possible- she seemed like a nervous girl, fidgeting with the battered little book in her hands as she spoke… but she also had plenty of reasons to be afraid, and if it was fear that shook her voice the king couldn’t blame her.

Only one person in the room was to blame for all this.

“I ju-just wanted them all to l-l-like me, you know? A-all the kids at school. They were talking about the- the mountain, how n-no one ever makes it down from there alive. And th-they were all r-really cool, t-tough people, s-so I couldn’t just d-disappoint them w-when they dared me, not when they were finally talking to m-me,” she shook her head. “I-It must all seem so small and stupid to you…”

“No,” he answered gently. “Although perhaps _they_ do, in comparison.”

To what appeared to be her own astonishment, the girl blushed. “Thank you. F-for not laughing at me. I k-know y-you… you have a whole kingdom to r-run. A-and if you w-were going to st-stop taking souls now, they wouldn’t h-have let me in here t-to face you now, would they?”

“…I’m sorry.”

“I- I’m not.” The strength that she spoke with seemed as much a surprise to her as it did to him. “M-maybe I never should have come here, maybe I d-did mess up for the last time, b-but for just once in my life I pushed f-for what I _wanted_ , not w-what I could settle for, and I saw s-so much more than I ever knew existed. I wish I h-had more time, th-that you wouldn’t _do this_ , but if now’s the end… then it w-was enough.” She took one step forward, meeting his gaze through her own tears, and held up her notebook. “This was enough.”

When it was over, he picked up the small, spiral-bound journal off the floor and carefully smoothed out the bent cover. Looking at the brightly-sparkling cartoon cats dancing around the cover would always bring to mind a memory of stubborn tears and a light the color of fresh, ripe plums. Knowing he couldn’t bear to read it, but not wanting to throw it away, he donated it to the Royal Science Labs with an excuse about wanting them to study human culture.

The Royal Scientist accepted the notebook stoically, and managed not to let on that they’d seen it before. The girl had held onto the tattered old cat-eared headband she’d found in the dump long after it had become clear that it wasn’t a very effective monster disguise, and they’d pretended to be fooled in order to retain some shred of plausible deniability, should they ever be asked. Foolish, perhaps, to hope for a truce, but they’d been charmed by her poorly-suppressed enthusiasm, the constant stream of questions she’d tried and failed to slip subtly their conversation, and they had found themselves wanting her to make it through. With a sigh, they pulled on their glasses and settled down to read.

At least all her effort needn’t go to waste.

**Yellow**

“so, do you remember his name? real tall guy, had the loudest voice and the sweetest smile. Trust me, if you let him talk, he would’ve introduced himself.”

Asgore remembered open arms and a soul as blue as the wideness of the sea. He bowed his head and did not speak. The child nodded in understanding, and they continued to circle each other, still standing on that sharp little edge of a moment before the start of the fight, where both people walk cautiously and wait for the other one to make the first move.

“he was my brother.”

Yes, there was a resemblance there, if he cast his memory back and considered the image. Far from identical, certainly, but something about the shape of the eyes, the shade of the skin… he could see family, there. The voice was much softer, the choice of words decidedly not.

“not a safe mountain to climb, we’ve all heard the stories, but he’d told everyone he could do it and he was never one to break his word.” A brief pause, thoughtful, and then: “I’d have been happy to snap it in two for him if I’d known, of course. would’ve stuffed him into his own closet until he promised to try something safer. but he always did move faster than me.”

They made an odd pair, he knew. A king crowned and armored in gold, a trident the color of spider lilies gripped tightly in one massive paw, and here he stood in the heart of his palace about to fight to the death with a little slip of a boy wearing a jacket that looked even scruffier than he did, both small and steady hands wrapped around a gun he’d made no move to fire.

“just couldn’t stand it, y’know? wondering every day if he was coming home, then wondering every night if I was ever gonna know why he wasn’t. if there was a body up there to bury, if he’d been frozen or eaten or… worse.” His gaze hardened. “didn’t seem right that he might be forgotten, that who or whatever got him might never have look me in the eye. it’d be stupid to think I could beat anything that could take him, but- “ he chuckled with a complete lack of humor- “people’ve been going after tougher targets for years, and there’s all sorts of ways to try and pick an unfair fight. even for a little guy like me, a gun kinda levels the playing field. only got the one bullet, but the way I hear it that can be enough, if you bring enough hate along with it. and I was plenty angry. trouble is…”

He trailed off with a diffident shrug, far more casual than Asgore suspected he truly felt. Still, the boy was skilled at concealing his feelings for one so young, and not a single drop of emotion showed itself in his expression as he continued.

“well, one good shot is still one shot, yanno? one way or another, figured I wasn’t gonna get a second, so I’d have to make it count. didn’t want to waste it, sure the hell didn’t want to hit someone innocent, so I took the time to try and ask around, get the full story. took some digging, but I wanted to know the truth… and I found all sort of things I wasn’t expecting.” Again, his laugh was joyless, “you know, I was almost angrier at you once I knew the truth? about why all this happened? I didn’t understand how you could do this to other people, not if you knew what it felt like to lose someone. how could I stop you, if you were still willing to do that? there’s no point to vengeance, I get that much. we just all wind up going back ‘round again, death for a death, and I don’t wanna see someone else standing where I am now. It’s not right to put anyone through that.”

The boy spread his arms wide, and for a moment Asgore wondered if he somehow knew how his brother had stood here at the beginning of it all, acceptance freely offered. That was not, he knew, what he’d come to give him now.

“but see, the question isn’t whether I can kill you. it ain’t even whether I should, ‘cause I figure if you gotta ask yourself in the first place then the answer’s always no. it’s about whether I can make you see clearly enough to stop. and then I remembered… maybe there is something you haven’t felt before. see, the worst part was not knowing, having to think about what might’ve happened to him and never find out for sure. so, because it might get through to you, because I really did learn a lot sneaking around here, or maybe just because I’m a lot meaner than I wish I was and I still wanna hurt you for taking him away from me, I think you oughtta know…”

The king listened with growing curiosity, until the child’s next words stopped him cold.

“I know what happened to Queen Toriel after she left you.”

He smiled, and brought the gun up to his own temple.

“And now you never will.”

The golden silence of the Judgement Hall was broken by the sharp sound of a single gunshot. The man waiting there bowed his head, his broad-brimmed hat shading his eyes and hiding his face from view. Probably for the best- he doubted the expression he had right now was anything he’d like to hear described to him.

He didn’t need to go in and find out which one of them it’d been. There was a certain look people had, when they walked into something they didn’t plan on coming back from. He hadn’t expected to see the kid again.

Still, it would’ve been nice to be wrong, this time.

After all, he’d kind of liked the sad little bastard, and he knew where to find at least one other person who wouldn’t be happy about this, either. He sighed softly and turned to walk away, boots scuffing against the golden tiles on the floor.

“Sorry, old lady. Better luck next time…”


End file.
